The Solitary Man’s Refuge

by Ron Foster

  That convoy would mean that who ever they may be are having some kind of problems with that nuclear plant located there. It’s a bit over 80 miles away from here, so yea, maybe survivable for us if it melts down because they cant pump water to cool the reactor. And we might live for the rest of our lifetimes if it has a leak, but I don’t care to not have the opportunity to leave if I can, based on some real radiation risk info. That is if I receive it, which is if I can get any kind of warning at all. It would be a bitch to be living here in the dark and not know that an atomic plant right up the road was melting down in your vicinity, or that everyone started to get radiation sick a year after it started burning around here because the sucker blew some radioactive dust out and you didn’t even know it was a threat to your health from prevailing winds because there is no more news or timely notifications to be had.

  I mean what would be the visual signs for that reactor meltdown to have happened anyway, that we would be able to detect from here? I suspect we are going to get our fair share of some really screwed up false alarms as cities burn around the country and the sky gets smoky and the horizon stays hazed up or burning red.

  Hell, that great big swamp that is about 200 miles from here in Georgia caught fire once and we had a week of smoke, haze and smog on the horizon you would swear was not a mile away from your own city and moving fast towards you.

  So I got to do me some thinking on that subject of reading the sky signs from here on in and then try to correct for different phenomenon to draw conclusions from.

  I don’t have a Geiger counter or any other radiation detection device handy. However, I do have me a book around here somewhere that tells me how to improvise one using a paper plate if we get some type of fallout.” Donald said trying to some how get his head around all the additional “what if” possibilities he had been trained professionally to look for as a contributing hazard or threat in this type of disaster. Infrastructure has all kinds of cascading effects on everything when it goes down for any length of time.

  “Damn, I had forgotten all about that nuclear plant up the road being a possible threat. I take it they got plenty of safety precautions and redundant mechanical safety systems in place, but there seems to be always something in the news about them having an unexpected problem they were not engineered or designed for that was occurring.” Michael said, stroking his grayish beard as Bubba mimicked the move with his own chin hair and begin considering his Bug In time frame in a more pressing decision making process that might require an earlier than desired departure by him and Cat away from the area.

  “Anyway, back to them good old geezers and grandmas’ who are older than even our old butts, but are so full of wisdom about these particular woods we were discussing.” Donald said sitting back down on the table’s bench and unconsciously started digging for a cigarette pack in his shirt pocket, though he had stopped carrying any for many months since he’d quit, to possibly focus his thoughts with.

  “About the only thing I can see clear to do at this point gents, that is if we are going to be able to live with ourselves in the future. We might need to share our preps with them. That is, until we reach a line in the sand where we can’t give up any more food and still can be able to survive ourselves.

  It’s a hard hand and heart wrenching decision where to draw that line at, but draw it straight and firm in the sand somewhere it must be ours to do and we got to consider when and how we need to do it.” Donald said pausing and raising his eyebrow towards his survivor friends who did not want to particularly think on that subject either.

  “We need to do this crap of talking to the residents of this street tactfully and oh so diplomatically. All of us need to remind each other at sometime over the coming months to interact with everyone that lives on this dead end road and do a little winning hearts and minds of the community talk like we used to give in the military when they send us to a different base or country in order to get the native peoples cooperation and following..

  If we can get their hearts and minds supporting our efforts and intents through our own personal sharing of goods, actually priceless luxuries now, then we could depend on their friendship and protection in a pinch I hope.” Donald said starting to layout his inputs for the three of them to begin to somehow form a plan to get through this catastrophe in the best shape possible and a semblance of civilization in place.

  “I can see that line of thinking, I just don’t like that it sounds a lot like what the military establishment proposed in Vietnam and we see how that worked out. “Win their Hearts and Minds’ I remember it's usage as pure propaganda that was used on the American people and also a way to bring about sometimes radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people supposed to be on our side..

  Try expressing it differently Donald, I know you old special forces minded and instead of doing that Hollywood Rambo crap your job was basically to drop a 150 miles behind the lines and make friends with indigenous peoples who sided with the US and supply them with guns, ammo training and lead them on their first mission in support of them crazy bastards called Airborne Rangers who walked in 50 miles behind the lines most likely. I know you Green Beanie types are more of a teacher and friend sharing the same conditions as those oppressed, rather than cannon fodder infantry that gets wasted in a ridiculous frontal assault or feint on some enemy objective on a map. You were one of them odd only 7 man teams they send to a village to stir up folks huh and promote the western way? I guess that can get you a little bit unnerved at times. I can see you as to having to meet someone you never seen in a country before. Some group that don’t speak the same language as you and then you have depend on a interpreter to tell you the lowdown truthfully and not play two ends off the middle and sell you to the other side for ultimate torture and death.

  I always knew someone who volunteered to jump out of perfectly good airplanes was a bit balmy, thanks Donald, you have now officially confirmed that!” Michael said, grinning at Don’s discomfiture of having to further explain some things some folks took for granted and some didn’t.

  “Remind me not to tell you so many damn war stories next time we get close to the bottom of our adult beverage cups. We need to stay off that subject anyway, reminds me of drinking too much in general, but I would like to know for my own use who around this neck of the woods has served in the military, what branch and now that I am an old fart out of touch with the community are their any guard soldiers or vets from the Middle East theater in our general A.O. (Area Of Operations.)??” Donald asked, dodging any more reluctant explanations and voicing concerns about the general security issues if he could pull the community together or if he didn’t attempt it and it evolved or dissolved on its own, what was expected out of the Vets.

  ‘I WOULD SAY MOST LIKLEY, ANY MILITARY BOYS OR MEN WILL REVERT BACK TO their training in times of trouble and at first use the highest rank held or military skill school to figure out the community pecking order.” Michael said a bit louder than he meant at first to draw Donald’s attention and to take control of the conversation for a minute so that he could tell his threat assessment to the newcomers in the area of who they need to maybe worry about.

  “Sorry, Mike, I am all ears buddy.” Donald said turning towards his friend and no longer letting his thoughts wander.

  “We need to get back to that. Back to what you were saying about we need to somehow support the elderly around here while we sort out an existence for our own. Is there anything we can do collectively besides make up that damn death list you probably got going on inside your head as who is a “casualty” of a disaster? I know how you Emergency Mangers think, you explained it to me one time in the sense that a doctor must give a vaccine to someone based on their chances of recovery versus the productivity they guessed the person might have in life, or the chances of them personally being a benefit the community and not just be a burden.” These odd things or points of view Don would sometimes bring up in conversation
unconsciously and they didn’t go past Michael a bit. No sir. He had a pretty firm grasp on how emergency management worked after hearing Mr. Don elaborate on the subject and in academic terms at that, often times referencing mental notes in his head from an academic paper he had written in his college years on the subject... Michael thought to himself as he enjoyed what was left of the beer.

  “Although, Donald, I can’t agree with all of your reasoning on just numbering folks in an event like this. I can see some of your points are pretty valid about whom we should help, or how much we ourselves are willing to share. Or for that matter, how much we can afford to give other people before we jeopardize our own existence. I will be honest with you man, I got maybe a months worth of food on hand then I am SOL (Shit out of Luck). I would like to think I can subsidize me and Amy enough with my garden and some hunting, but after listening to you and weighing it out carefully I see cob webs forming in my asshole if you don’t share some of your food preps with me. I did start stocking some stuff up on my own after our many prepper talks, but that hyperinflation kicked my butt and buying power so I don’t have a lot to show for the effort and expense.

  I always understood between us, that you and I would use some of the same traps, bait, guns, ammo and food to overcome some of this adversity. However, I never realized how many other people would not even have a half of our chances at getting by. I sort of see why you didn’t do the NatGeo Doomsday Prepper thing. You saw some warning signs and thought about this shit coming and wanted to maintain at least some secrecy, am I right?” Michael said, looking at Don intently.

  “Something like that.” Donald said shrugging his shoulders. “I think what Donald is saying is that we are in a situation now where we might have to play judge and jury in a live or die sense and before we let it get to our heads we better discuss it in the here and now.” Bubba said carefully watching Michael’s face for a reaction.

  “I understand that, I say far be it from me to not defend the decision you preppers all made to prepare daily for something like this to occur. I can see the rock and hard places you are in now to share all them supplies you painstakingly gathered and probably had to do without other things people take for granted, in order to achieve this level of preparedness for your homes.” Michael related.

  “Thing is boys, I probably only got a bit extra to feed some lucky adopt a family lightly for a month in extra preps before I start worrying about me cutting them off completely. I am thinking I will bag up some rice and beans, say a weeks worth for 1 in some baggies. Michael and I got our own deal on mutually shared survival going but, if anyone comes begging for food I can offer one of those prepackaged things and tell them right then I am willing to do this for them say…seven times and then no more. We are going to have to be real careful about letting on what we got, as well as a concern is, people will start watching each other and wondering what others got that they don’t. I need to share some vegetable seeds with these neighbors as soon as possible, but deciding when that conversation takes place is sort of tricky. We need to let everyone else’s little life dramas play out on their own I am thinking. Follow the same practices of trying to find food as they do, ask the same questions as they do to each other when we meet about how and where to obtain food. Be super careful with our garbage and always have someone guarding the preps 24/7. Thing is, we want to be blended into the community as best as we possibly can. Sharing crops with others is ok, but just donate the logical amount you can give away, if that is all supposedly you are surviving on.

  I will get all of my herbal books out and inform Old Max that there is information in them on substituting some herbs for those medications that he and his wife may or may not have on hand or that they can’t replace from anywhere from now on.

  Food wise, we really have barely enough to take care of our own I hate to say it but it’s a grim fact. Think about it as a math problem. If you have 8 buckets of grains and legumes stored, representing 1 years’ worth of food for one person at 1600 calories a day and we 6 human bodies tried to live off of that, it means we got exactly two months each to survive utilizing only that one resource. That means we don’t have any extra food rations to give away. One year of Mountain House for one person adds another two months living for us four, ok. So that puts us 4 months into this crap and dead in the middle of winter when the food stores run out. That’s my basic stash we got on hand. Yeah, I got some other stuff I call extra, but it’s really not extra in anyway you see?

  I have got prepped maybe 5 (25lb) boxes of parboiled rice, a bucket of beans, a bucket of ABC soup mix and some other staples that I am going to dip into to help the neighbors maybe, or NOT! That’s probably another two months worth of food for each of us if we need to make it to summer and then we will be eating weeds and depending on catching wild game to survive any further.

  We are kind of getting stuck with the concept of not offering anything at all to the neighbors and hoping it doesn’t get noticeable we aren’t getting any skinner as they are losing tons of weight. That can cause some conflicts for sure, particularly for me because since it’s known that I am a prepper. This is also not a bad thing in a way. People know I got some firepower in the way of some serious guns most likely on hand and they know it won’t be no walk in the park to come borrowing from me if they ain’t saying please and acting real nice.

  Or, I give some food away, delay the inevitable into a longer slower starvation for the recipient and have to watch my back every moment after I say no more food can be shared. I would have no problem sharing say if the power was out for three weeks do to a hurricane but this event is far different. If we help the community, it’s got to be a full blown effort on our part and requires an unknown quantity of cooperation that we can maybe, just maybe, depend upon from them in reciprocation. We need to somehow get the people on this dead-end road planting vegetables and sharing hunts and labor together as a cooperative community bent on its survival as a community and not just an individual’s day to day nourishment or existence. If say for consideration, that the neighbors on my side of the road agrees that we are going to do a stalk or drive hunt simultaneously on a certain day and at a certain time, we are assuredly going to get at least one deer killed and the meat can be divided amongst us all. It’s a hell of a lot safer and more productive for everyone to do it that way, instead of every neighbor going hunting in their backyards so close together at all different times and spooking deer in different directions away from us.

  I don’t know either if anyone has hunting dogs around here, but that’s another consideration to take into account. If someone is going hunting with dogs, everyone needs to be aware of this and safely watch out for them crisscrossing possible lanes of gun fire. Folks should be thinking about chaining their dogs up for their own protection now, too. I am going to be running a trap line for food procurement and I don’t want any tragic accidents or blame happen to me because somebody let their dog stray and it gets stuck in one of my trail sets. I got some extra 110 conibear traps some people can use to get their own dinners and I will share the catch of any animals requiring my larger traps if I set on their property. I can give a few classes on making a deadfall or a primitive snare, but I can do a better job without worrying about somebody else’s attempts at trapping cluttering up the game trails.

  Getting this community to pull together cohesively is about the only way we are all going to make it the way I see it, of at least everyone getting one meal a day. Therefore, I might have to share some extra food preps now and then and maybe even some fresh meat if I can manage to fill all my traps. Petty jealousy or coveting my preps is always a danger, but it’s a danger that can be quantified possibly. I just need to add up the possibilities and reach my best solution.” Donald said to his deeply thinking audience who seemed both perplexed and challenged with figuring out options about the little debacle they all faced in sharing resources.

  LowBuck looked up from studying his iceless drink and wore a serious look. “Y
ou know once you offer to share some food and bring up those coordinated deer drive hunts, everybody is going to be thinking guns and hunting buddies. Guns and hunting buddies’ means everyone gets their gun out if they haven’t had them out already and thinks guns and ammo. So now we start the “Gun Culture” where it will be common for everyone to be carrying a hunting as well as defense tool in the form of a firearm on a daily basis. You might think it will be like the old west and everyone just expects to see a hunting rifle, but it won’t be like that. People are scared and scared people with guns get nervous around other scared people with guns. It’s kind of like lighting a fuse and you don’t know what it’s attached to at the other end that might hurt you. People are not thinking too straight at the moment and it’s harder for some than others, tempers might flare, somebody might just go off the deep end, etc., so we need to consider that.” Bubba declared and let his thoughts on the matter be considered as fair warning we might not like the playground we were considering making.

  “I guess what I am saying to both of you, is when do we start showing the neighbors our black rifles versus regular hunting style guns.” Lowbuck said, referring to the media’s slang term “black” for any weapon that had some kind of accessory or mechanical feature that the ‘powers that be’ could label as an “assault weapon” and try to restrict it’s sale and possession with ridiculous regulations.

  “I still remember the looks I got LowBuck using that old scoped SKS I got ,because that hunting club I happen to have screwed up and joined didn’t appreciate that the bayonet was still attached to it. It’s a great whitetail hunting gun with many a deer taken with it, and the thing is factory sighted by the military with the weight of that integral bayonet built in so why remove it? That’s the way you have to shoot one unless you restock the weapon and I see no reason to do it.” Donald said pondering when he was going to start to open carry his Smith and Wesson MP 15 AR.